Release date: Oct. 30, 2002
Contact: Nancy Seideman, Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0640 or nseidem@emory.edu

Nanobiology Research Works to Uncover Mysteries of Cellular Mechanics

The new field of nanobiology combines biology and physics in ways never before imagined, with the potential to revolutionize medicine and industry. Emory physics professor Fereydoon Family and his team of researchers are working to find out how nature works at the nanoscale, particularly how transport takes place in biological systems at that level.

Nature already makes great use of nanotechnology, says Family. "Nature has elegantly endowed each cell with a network of highways, made of polymerized proteins, along which nanoscale robots and molecular motors are busy at work delivering energy, carrying food to where it is needed, transporting waste out of the system, and defending the cell and its components against outside influences."

Nanotechnology involves the design and creation of devices out of a few atoms and small molecules — devices roughly the size of a nanometer, or a billionth of a meter. A million nanoscale devices can fit on a single dot on a page and have countless technological applications. Some function like tiny machines, such as motors, pumps and other mechanical devices that can transport and manipulate things. Some act as extremely tiny, but powerful, electronic and chemical appliances, like computers, lasers and storage devices.

"The impact of nanodevices in medicine will be revolutionary," Family says. "There will be new generations of prosthetic and medical implants whose surfaces are molecularly designed to interact with the body. Specially designed molecules will react with the body fluids to regenerate bone, skin and other damaged tissues, or act on plaques in the brain to fight against buildup of amyloid deposits and Alzheimer’s disease. The work we’re doing to discover the physics of nanobiology will help take us there."

Family organized the first international conference on nanobiology, held at Emory in October 2001, which convened 70 of the world’s leading scientists and engineers to discuss how biology works at the nanometer scale and how biological molecular machines made of a few molecules can be duplicated.

"We need to understand the physics of nanoscale machines and how they operate under different conditions," says Family. "Scientists cannot just build these structures randomly and hope that they will function properly."

To listen to Family’s segment on "Science in Your Life," (Emory’s combination radio show and Web site which airs three days a week on Atlanta public radio station WABE 90.1 FM) go to: www.emory.edu/COLLEGE/scienceandsociety/scienceinyourlife/family.htm.

Back